The scent of jackfruit fills the hill district of Khagrachhari. From the start of the season, markets across the district have been packed with jackfruit, which takes up more space than anything else. The national fruit is playing a big role in the hill economy.

Nutritious jackfruit contains plenty of protein, carbohydrates and various vitamins that the human body needs. Green jackfruit is effective in easing illness and also greatly boosts the body's immunity. Jackfruit contains powerful antioxidants that protect the body from harmful free radicals.

The biggest jackfruit markets in Khagrachhari are held at Guimara and Matiranga — at Guimara on Tuesdays and at Matiranga on Saturdays.

Although Saturday is market day, local sellers from remote areas and several neighbouring upazilas began bringing jackfruit to Matiranga Bazar from Thursday afternoon. At Guimara, jackfruit starts arriving from Monday morning. On these two days, the markets spread across large stretches of both sides of the Dhaka-Chattogram-Khagrachhari regional highway.

Ahead of the Saturday market, wholesale traders from Noakhali, Chandpur, Brahmanbaria, Cumilla and other districts gather at Matiranga on Thursday and take jackfruit by the truckload to the plains districts, where they say hill jackfruit is in great demand.

On recent visits to the Matiranga and Guimara markets, local wholesalers and orchard owners were seen sitting beside heaps of jackfruit, each with hundreds of fruits, while wholesalers from other districts bargained and bought the ones they liked. Local sellers and wholesalers said that because hill jackfruit is in demand on the plains, they are buying it at fairly high prices.

Retail sellers at Matiranga Bazar said that at the district's biggest jackfruit market, sellers bring jackfruit by truck and Chander Gari jeep from remote hill areas of the upazila as well as from Logang, Taindong, Tabalchhari, Panchhari, Maischhari and Bhuachhari. Locally each jackfruit sells for Tk 40-70 depending on size; in the plains districts the price is more than three times higher.

Md Nur Nabi, a jackfruit seller in Matiranga, said: "We buy orchards at the start of the season. Then from the end of May to July we sell the fruit in stages at local markets and at wholesale depots on the plains. There has been a bumper crop this year, and we are getting good prices."

Abdul Karim, a wholesaler from Noakhali, said that although jackfruit from here is in demand, prices are comparatively high this year. Motaleb Mia, a wholesaler from Chandpur, said local middlemen force them to buy at high prices, so their profits are low.

Matiranga municipality councillor Mohammad Ali said many people in the hills have become self-reliant by selling jackfruit. He said jackfruit from here is valued in markets in Chattogram, Cumilla and elsewhere.

Md Mohiuddin Chowdhury, a representative of the Matiranga Bazar lease-holder, said about 50 truckloads of jackfruit leave Matiranga Bazar for plains districts every week this season, earning the government substantial revenue. At least 200 workers support their families by loading and unloading jackfruit and other work at the market.

Matiranga municipality councillor Md Shahidul Islam Sohag called for a cold storage facility to be set up in Khagrachhari by the government or the private sector. "A cold store has long been a demand of orchard owners. If it were built, they would profit more," he said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.